Holiday Scenes

Christmas Eve breakfast for one. Morning Star veggie patties rule.

The cutest little stocking for my sweet niece. 

Check out her stylish pants!

Let's not forget this stylish dude, too. 

Woah!

Happy babies make Christmas dinner better. 

This crazy house in my parent's development. It's been like this ever since I was a kid, with the last maybe 5 years being more extravagant than ever. And I almost don't want to post the next door neighbor's house because I actually love all these lights, the creativity and the effort, but...

Lame!

What I Wore: Christmas Eve

Dress: Lulu's. Necklace: Vintage. Prescription glasses: Lookmatic.

Weekend Scenes

The holiday parties are coming back to back and on top of each other now and while I love it, coming home and getting cozy is also that much better. Here are some moments from our weekend before Christmas.

 

My handiwork this year. Kraft paper and Japanese masking tape. With a little twine.

Pizza cut up in strips becomes flatbread which becomes a great appie. 

Dinners are always better with your own little pot of cream. 

We cleared out our dining area table in anticipation of our new Crate and Barrel dining room table...which never came. So beyond bummed. Crossing our fingers we get it before Christmas!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Our most controversial card yet. See, this year we didn't say 

"Happy Holidays" and busted out "Merry Christmas". See that? :)

The only other card we sent out, in 2009. 

Christmas Decorations 2011

Of course everything isn't all set in it's place, but I just couldn't wait. 

I tried to change it up and keep it fresh and different from last year.

Our mantle. Missing two trees and fairy lights, but you get the idea. 

It's a little forest. :)

 

I don't think I will ever tire of bottle brush trees. 

That vintage Santa actually lights up. So this is my first Santa item. 

And we don't have kids. What is wrong with me?!

Fake snow!

Another Santa I picked up at this weekend's Alameda flea market.

I bought it because my mom has the same one. 

The backside is creepily painted- like face paint.

Getting less and less scared of using red to decorate for this holiday. I got this banner on ebay after being inspired by this epic mantle. This was still in it's original packaging from back in they day when it fetched 29 cents. 

Too delicate to hang on a door, I laid it on a coffee table and stuck a candle in the middle.

Lately

Hopped on that bandwagon. I didn't really get it at first. I was super happy

with my first Stylemint shirt. Anyone else have good experiences?

The prettiest little stock pot there ever was. It is called Dijion. 

I kind of want it to live on my stove and not hidden away in a cabinet.

Vintage Japanese ornaments from Ebay that I paid too much for. Tell me they're cute?

Homemade wedding present that I have been dying to display. 

Now I just need to find a spot worthy of it. 

Upcycle those Shiny Brites

Frankly, I was tired of using my Shiny Brite ornaments by putting them in fake snow in glass hurricanes. I think I did it a few years in a row. When I saw Emily Henderson's holiday special and she made a huge peace sign out of round ornaments, I couldn't wait to get started.

Peace on earth! Christmas decor without being obvious. I'm in love.

From the Shiny Brite wiki:

The demand for glass ornaments waned as plastic ornaments became more popular, ultimately bringing the Shiny-Brite company to close its doors in 1962.

 Boo! Boo to plastic.

Keeping it real. In the unstyled built in. It was the perfect decoration to go in the gap. I got a 26" floral wreath wire circle, and hot glued the crap out of those Shiny Brites. There were many causalities in the process. More glue=for the better.

Holly and Jon get a Christmas tree

This weekend we got our tree! I love love love this time of year and having a pretty tree all lit up is one of the best parts. We went to the tree farm we have gone to for the last 4 or 5 years.

 Blue skies. Gotta love Christmas time in California.

 First time as husband and wife!

We decided to not mess around this year and got a pre-cut one. 

I think once we have kiddos we will go back to cutting our own.

Trimmed!

In the dark

{lights in a jar in my family room}

I have so many things to photograph to put up on this blog, but I can't because it's so dark before and after work! I know, first world problems. One of the things I can't wait to show you is the most frustrating craft I have done in a long time. In other news, I finally caved and joined Pinterest. Come find me.

Holiday Pro Tip: Hard Apple Cider

Your friends will love you if you bring Crispin hard apple cider to their holiday party. This stuff does not mess around! Not too sweet at all and actually packs quite a punch. Plus, it gets you in the spirit and all that stuff. Even though it seems blogland needs no help in that department. Get a 22 oz at Whole Foods.

How To: Make a Wreath

Making a wreath is easier than it looks! Here are my simple

instructions to make a homemade wreath for cheap. 

Step One: Look outside and find something growing out of control that 

could stand to lose some branches. For me, this is an olive tree in our backyard. 

Step Two: Chop off the prettiest and fullest branches. 

Step Three: Gather your other supplies you may need, depending on what type of foliage you're using. I ended up only using the lightweight wire and wire cutters, besides the wire hanger, which everyone will need. 

Step Four: Shape your wire hanger into a circle. This will be your base. And it comes with a handy hook!

Step Five: Lay out the branches on your circle and wrap wire around the ends. 

 Step Six: Repeat until you reach your desired thickness.

Voila!

What I Wore: Date night on the 4th of July

After returning home from camping all we really wanted to do was clean up and go out to dinner. Lucky for us, I had purchased a GILT city offer for Pizza Antica the week prior.

 A white and red ensemble. And patriotic nails to boot. 

Don't worry, I didn't bring the flag with me to dinner.

Is there anything better than rose on a hot summer night?

 

Totally grubbin! Happy birthday America.